Rain
by BundyShoes
Summary: Will has a realization stike him after a dance in the rain with a certain someone. Will/Kate of course. Jocelyn fans beware: contains Jocelyn bashing. Oneshot


Rain

* * *

"Ahhh…! It's such a beautiful day out!" Geoff Chaucer commented, looking up at the sky. William and his posse were on the road again, towards another tournament. Only this time, they had two more add-alongs.

"How long till our next stop, love?" Lady Jocelyn whined. The heat had been getting to her all day apparently, for the entire time she had been complaining.

William Thatcher turned towards the woman, and with a half-forced smile, answered, "Not much, dear." He then glanced right behind him and Jocelyn, who was on a horse along with Chaucer. Behind them was Wat; then Roland and Christiana, who were getting pretty close as days went by; and then pulling up at the end was their dear Kate. She had stayed quiet throughout the entire trip, only speaking when spoken to.

Will scrunched up his brow. He was about to open his mouth to talk to her when a shriek cut through the air. He whipped his head to where the scream came from, finding Jocelyn holding her hands over her head. He was confused for a second until he felt what she was fretting about. A few drops of water fell from the sky unto his face, one hitting him dot on the nose. He tilted his head up, letting the rest of the water hit him head on.

"Christiana! Get me an umbrella or something quick!" Jocelyn was trying to salvage her hair while still frantically calling for her handmaiden. Christiana quickly set to work and came up to her mistress with said umbrella and held it over her head.

"Thanks…" Jocelyn let out a sigh of relief, while everyone around her rolled their eyes discreetly.

The rain pounded harder and although the guys and two of the girls didn't mind, Jocelyn was getting grumpier.

"Why can't we get out of this downpour? It's getting to be too much to handle!" A silence blanketed the group after that until a giggle broke through.

Turning around, Will saw Kate taking her hair down, which was soaked by then, sticking to her face and skin along with her clothes. She stuck her arms out beside her, like wings, and the hair sticking to them flared out like a cape. She walked along as though she was on a tight-rope. A giddy grin graced her normally stern features, making her look like a little child; her eyes sparkled as they watched the water fall to the muddy ground.

A sight like this made Will's heart warm and his features soften. He felt a smile pull at his lips. He looked forward again, and lent a deaf ear to Jocelyn's whining.

After a few moments of the rain not relenting and the group not stopping anywhere, Jocelyn finally realized that there was no way they'd be stopping, and she quit complaining. Kate was all the more happy about this and when she was thoroughly soaked, she was in an even more excited mood. She began skipping in the puddles, getting the ends of her dress soaked, but by the looks of her face, she didn't care. After about the fifth glance her way, he figured out that she wasn't aware of any of the people in the group were there walking with her. She was in her own little world, where she was by herself and not having to deal with the quietness that blanketed their group; she had music in her world to cheer her up and dance to.

She was so involved in her music that she started skipping ahead of the group and dancing along the way. Her hands in the air, and her wet black hair flying through the air and around her, creating a dark halo when it went around her face. She was about ten feet away when she began laughing out loud. She began spinning and twirling in a mass of black white and green, her dress swirling around her legs.

She stopped and looked up, her front facing them. Will watched mesmerized as she closed her eyes and smiled to the sky. Her arms were down at her sides but outward some, as if asking for a hug or presenting herself to someone. She looked beautiful.

Will's eyes widened at the thought. How could he think that about Kate? How could he think that about _another woman_ other that Jocelyn? He stopped and thought about it. It was normal to think about Kate like that though, she was beautiful, as he said before, she was smart, had a sense of humor, and wasn't as fragile as most women. She was an ideal woman for a man.

He stared ahead of him blankly, his eyes stuck on Kate as she began twirling again. He snapped put if it when he heard Jocelyn snort.

"How unlady-like… I guess when you're a poor person, you have no inhibitions." He looked over and saw her smirk in her self-priding way. He felt his small smile turn into a deep scowl. What did she mean by that?

"Jocelyn, if you remember, I'm a peasant and so is everyone else here." He turned to Wat, Roland, Chaucer, and Christiana who were holding hidden expressions on their faces; trying to keep their faces expressionless to not show their displeasure.

He turned back to the noble, "And as a matter of fact, I feel like dancing in the rain as well," he smirked, brushed a wet blonde lock out of his eyes before running ahead toward Kate, who was now jumping in puddles. Will stomped in every bit of water he could, and felt his grin grow larger when he heard Jocelyn gasp in horror and the rest laugh at his antics.

He reached Kate and wrapped her in his arms, in a dancing position, and started spinning her. She gasped and looked at him with shock in her eyes, before it melted into mischief and happiness. She went along with his steps and even though it was clumsy and wild and out of control, it felt perfect to Will.

They both had smiles stretched on their faces and pure happiness in their faces. For Will, he felt more alive now dancing in the pouring rain with Kate in his arms, than dancing at a banquet in a stuffy ballroom with Jocelyn. He was himself out here in his natural environment, and he didn't have to pretend and be polite like he did when around the nobles.

They were still dancing and walking ahead of the group. Looking up, Will saw that they were farther ahead than he thought. They had gone up a hill their waltz and couldn't even see them.

Will looked back at Kate who was smiling to herself and catching her breath. She glanced up at him, and catching his eye beamed up at him in pure bliss. The rain was still beating down on them and William saw her hair overcoming the left side of her face. He lifted his hand in a spontaneous moment, and pushed it behind her. He kept his right hand on the crook of her neck, though instead of pulling it away, and his eyes darkened. He watched her eyes become a little more serious and a little more excited and he thought that there might be something more behind it. He thought that maybe he was finally doing something right, since he began jousting, in his love life.

He leaned forward and she lifted her head in anticipation. Her hands had found his chest and they now rested there comfortably. They were both in a daze and as his lips barely grazed hers, they heard the horses finally coming over the hill. They both snapped out of it and pulled away. Will put his hand on the back of his wet neck, his sopping hair soaked to his hand, and glanced up and saw Kate standing there with her arms behind her back, she was looking at the ground with her hair shielding her face. Briefly she lifted her head and caught his eye and for a second he saw her smile at him, a blush covering her cheeks making them rosy and complementing her pale complexion.

They heard Wat yelling at them and both reluctantly looked over to see Chaucer, Roland, and Christiana smiling widely; Wat looking grumpy (he was hungry); and Jocelyn scowling and her arms crossed. He felt rather than saw Kate smirk at that, and he himself felt a smirk pulling at his mouth. He quickly forced it down and put on a serious face.

"Well I hope you got that out of your system, William, because that is the last time you can dance like that when we get to the next stop," was the first thing Jocelyn said when she reached him. She took his arm, and hooked hers around it, forcing him to walk with her under the umbrella Christiana was still holding over her mistress.

He watched as when the passed Kate, Jocelyn gave her a dark look and a triumphant look combined, and was confused. Did she think she won something? It looked as though the two were competing and Jocelyn had won the prize. He felt pride surge in his chest, though, when he saw Kate look defiantly back, and knew that no matter what or who she lost, she would never lose that spark of hers. He gave her a warm smile when the back of Jocelyn's head faced him. Kate immediately gave him one in return and once they passed her, she began walking in step with Wat who was grumbling again about food and how hungry he was.

Will sighed in content. Today, no matter how rainy it appeared, it was brilliantly bright to him. The rain was beautiful and helped Will have the time of his life. He held his free hand out from under the umbrella, to feel the raindrops. Turning his head to look beyond his left shoulder, he caught Kate's eye and smiled even more.

The rain also helped him realize something else. Something important: Kate. Of course he couldn't do anything now, but he knew that over time, not years of course, but months hopefully, he'll be with the one he realized was there the whole time. Hopefully, in a few months' time, he'll be with Kate. And he'll definitely make up for time lost.

He smirked, 'Yes you can definitely count on that,' he thought.

END


End file.
